The Internal Revenue Service provided guidance (Notice 2020-18) on Friday postponing federal tax filing deadlines from April 15 to July 15 for taxpayers affected by Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) pandemic, aligning the due date with the tax payment deferral. The notice applies to affected taxpayers, meaning any individual, trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation with a federal income tax return due on April 15. Affected taxpayers will receive an automatic extension and will not be required to file extension forms. It is important to note that the announcement includes an unlimited payment deferral removing the $1 million individual and $10 million corporate deferred payment caps under previous guidance.

Notice 2020-18 applies to federal income tax returns and payments (including extension payments and self-employment taxes) for the 2019 tax year, and estimated tax payments for the 2020 tax year. This extension does not apply to any other type of federal tax, or the filing of any federal information returns. The notice supersedes and expands upon earlier guidance (Notice 2020-17) that gave affected taxpayers extra time to pay their taxes but would still be required to files tax returns or extensions.

We will continue to monitor this situation and keep you apprised of any further developments.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact your tax advisor at Marks Paneth LLP. You may also visit our Pandemic Resource Center for additional updates and guidance on the coronavirus (COVID-19).